Kissing Heero
by Katana Rey
Summary: Yaoi, AU, multiple pairing and just what the title says :lol
1. Default Chapter

Part 1.  
  
'He loves me.'  
  
'He loves me not.'  
  
'He loves me.'  
  
Heero looked down at the last petal on his daisy and heaved a disconsolate sigh, then tossed it carelessly on top of the pile of other daisies. He wondered if someone was trying to tell him something. Still, the pilot of Wing Zero was nothing, if not determined. Heero reached into the basket for his sixty-fourth daisy.  
  
'He loves me.'   
  
*****  
  
'How long is this going to take?' Duo chewed his lower lip anxiously as he paced impatiently outside Heero's room, flinching as he heard Heero's voice firmly counting, seventy-nine, from the other side of the door. 'I don't know if I can take this much longer.'  
  
'Leave him alone.' Trowa advised tranquilly as he held up his tapestry, counting the number of stitches he needed, before selecting the next skein. He looked down at the selection of colours and wondered whether he had enough brown wool, or whether he should think about using more yellow in the colour scheme instead. 'You know what Heero's like, he's not going to give up until he's gone through the entire 100 daisies.'   
  
Duo grimaced as he heard Heero reach number eighty-nine and unconsciously gathered up his braid and started to nibble on the ends, and muttered under his breath, 'yeah, but what if the answer is no....'  
  
Trowa blinked and paused his needle in the air while he thought, his green eyes fixed on the wide, anxious violet eyes of his friend and suggested in a doubtful voice, 'errm... you could try giving up...'  
  
'Never.' Duo snapped back at once, his eyes sparking furiously with battle light. 'That word is not in my vocabulary.'  
  
Trowa nodded and regarded the lined outline of the boy in his tapestry with a faint air of despondency... 'I was afraid you were going to say that...' His hand wavered uncertainly between the brown and yellow wool and finally landed on the black skein.   
  
*****  
  
'He loves me not.'   
  
Heero sighed mournfully as he looked at the empty basket. 'Well, that's that.' He thought sadly. 'I always wondered if I could trust him when he told me that he loved me.' He carefully gathered up the raggedy flowers and dumped them in the rubbish bin. Then he got out his address book and started to look under M.   
  
*****  
  
'So you've decided that you'll accept my offer?' Zechs asked Heero with a glowing smile on his face. 'You won't regret coming to me. I don't suppose you mind if I ask what changed your mind?'  
  
Heero shook his head, 'no, not really. Lets just say that I've realized that I don't have much of a future where I am right now.'  
  
Zechs stared at the solemn youth in front of him curiously before shrugging. 'Oh well, I guess it's none of my business really. Have you decided when you want to leave?'  
  
'Next week?' Heero suggested, 'that'll give me enough time to say goodbye to all my friends before I leave Earth.'  
  
Zechs nodded happily. 'Sure, I'll book us seats on the next flight out.' He picked up the check and grinned at the handsome boy, 'this is my treat, Heero. I'll see you at the space port in one week.'  
  
Heero sighed and looked at the half empty cup of coffee in front of him. He wondered what it would be like to leave all his friends behind. But now that he knew, he thought that he couldn't bear to be around them any more, especially Duo.  
  
*****  
  
'It's just a bloody flower!' Duo screamed loudly, forcing Trowa to lose count of his stitch, again.  
  
'Maybe I should have stuck to tapestries.' Trowa thought glumly as he looked at his messy knitting, 'knit one, purl two, drat, I keep losing count.'   
  
'Are you listening to me Trowa?' Duo yelled into Trowa's ears causing the tall redhead to scream out loud in shock and pain as he accidentally stabbed one of the knitting needles into his finger.   
  
'I'm telling you that Heero's leaving me because some stupid flower told him that I didn't love him and all you can do is bleed all over that damned tangled piece of wool.'  
  
Trowa closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten, trying not to dwell on images of Duo; strangled with wool, or pierced in the heart with one of the knitting needles.   
  
'Look, if you want to stop Heero from leaving, do something about it. Tell him that you do love him.'  
  
'But I have told him. Over and over. That's why he picked those damned daisies! And they all said I didn't love him!' Duo wailed disconsolately as he started to suck on the end of his braid. 'He's tried picking over a hundred flowers already. If I give him another daisy and he gets the same answer, he'll be even more convinced that I don't love him.'  
  
Trowa sighed impatiently as he applied a bandaid to his finger, while silently resolving to give up knitting forever, 'so try something different this time.'  
  
'Something different?' Duo brightened up immediately. 'Of course, why didn't I think of that? All I have to do is to come up with another brilliant plan to show him that I do love him. Gee, it's so simple.'  
  
Trowa gave the disappearing boy a sour look and swallowed the obvious retort that rose to his lips.   
  
*****  
  
'What about tying a yellow ribbon around a tree?' Quatre offered absently as he dipped a spoon into the bubbling stew and carefully nibbled and the piece of potato, and wondered whether he should add another teaspoon of salt.  
  
'That's only for people who's already left, you idiot. The whole point of this conversation is that I don't want Heero to leave me. Isn't there something that you can think of?' Duo scowled crossly as he grabbed a spoon from the drawer and started scraping the remainder of the chocolate cake batter in the bowl. 'Something that's sure to convince Heero that I do love him?'  
  
'Have you ever thought of just telling him that?' Quatre asked tartly as he pulled the oven door open and tested the chocolate cake carefully to see if it was done.   
  
'Well, gee. What'd you think? Of course, I've tried that.' Duo muttered impatiently and he walked over to the range and started to stir the stew slowly, savouring the yummy smell that floated up.   
  
Then he quickly swallowed the mouthful of stew that he had grabbed while Quatre was busy with the oven, and flashed a guilty grin at Quatre, who glared at him.  
  
'But it doesn't work. Heero thinks that I'm not serious enough. I've tried my best soulful look and everything.' Duo fluttered his eyelashes at Quatre who rolled his eyes and shook his head disapprovingly.  
  
'Okay, so telling him isn't going to work.' Quatre admitted grimly, as he tapped Duo's hands away from the quiche that he had left on the bench to cool, with the wooden spoon. 'So what else have you tried?'  
  
'Well, Heero's tried the flower thing but even after a hundred daisies, it kept on coming out all wrong.' Duo sniffed dismally, 'so I told him that if I really loved him, I'd be able to tell what he was thinking. Since true love allows you to read each other's minds. So we tried that too.'  
  
Quatre groaned out loud. 'Don't tell me, that's what was going on yesterday when you and Heero kept on yelling at each other.'  
  
Duo swallowed a chuckle as he remembered how he and Heero had tried to communicate with each other by guessing what the other was doing and wanting.   
  
'Yeah, it didn't really work. I kept on thinking that he wanted my company so I would go to him and after I interrupted him in his bath, he got really narky about the whole thing. I kind of enjoyed interrupting him in the bath but... Heero was feeling a bit cranky because earlier, I had erased his work files thinking that he wanted to have more space available on his hard drive.' He started to giggle as he remembered the outraged look on Heero's face before he got a face full of soap.   
  
Quatre eyed the giggling boy in front of him and thought he couldn't blame Heero for not taking him too seriously. He sighed, 'okay, okay. I got the picture. So what you need is something that can let Heero know that you really love him. Hmmmm. What about flowers?'  
  
'Again?' Duo squealed indignantly, 'weren't you listening when I told you that this whole mess started with flowers?'  
  
'No, no. I mean give Heero some flowers. As a token of your love. Like Roses.' Quatre rolled his eyes again as the violet eyes widened with delight. 'Don't tell me you've never given him flowers before this.'  
  
'Well no. Heero's not exactly the type that you think of giving flowers to. Guns maybe but flowers...' Duo rubbed his hands gleefully. 'I can do flowers. That's easy. Thanks Quatre.' He beamed sweetly, then quickly grabbed a slice of the quiche and ran out of the kitchen before Quatre could stop him.  
  
Quatre glared at the mess on his table and wondered if Heero would thank him for this.  
  
*****  
  
'I told you not to trust the blond.' Wufei sniffed disdainfully at the sobbing mess in front of him.  
  
Duo lifted teary eyes and blew his nose loudly on the Kleenex before collapsing back on the bed.   
  
'Just what happened anyway? Why is Yuy so annoyed with you?' Wufei asked as he gingerly poked at the wailing boy who was messing up his doona.  
  
'It's all Quatre's fault. I only did as he told me to. How was I to know that the colour was important?' Duo gulped and hiccuped as he wiped his face with the Kleenex that Wufei handed to him hastily.   
  
'I didn't know that white roses meant dead love. I just thought they looked pretty. And everyone gives red roses. I wanted mine to be more special, different. Waaaaaaah.'   
  
He clutched at the alarmed Chinese who looked down at him with dismay as he slobbered all over his shirt. 'Do something Wufei. I have to convince Heero that I really, truly love him. Otherwise, he's going to leave me.'  
  
Wufei felt his head start aching painfully as Duo continued to sob loudly into his chest. 'What if I told him that you loved him.' He offered desperately at last, as he tried to disengage himself from Duo who continued to dribble tears down his shirt.   
  
Duo looked at him with wide violet eyes, instantly beaming. 'Would you? Really? I knew that I could rely on you Wufei. I'm sure that you can convince Heero that I really love him.' He hugged Wufei tightly before blowing his nose really loudly on another piece of Kleenex, and leaving the room.  
  
Wufei looked down at himself, at the drenched shirt front, then at his bed where his doona remained mussed up and a bit damp in places, then shuddered as he saw the white pile of scattered Kleenex on the bed and below it.   
  
'And who the hell do you think is going to clean this up, you, you... come back here!' He yelled out, a little too late as his door slammed shut before he managed to get the words out of his mouth.   
  
*****  
  
'I thought you were going to talk to Heero. Not get into a duel.' Quatre tsked as he continued to dress Wufei's arm.  
  
'Shut up Winner, as soon as I get better, you're next.' Wufei spat furiously as he glared at the weeping boy who was sitting next to them. 'You and your stupid ideas. I'm beginning to think that Heero's better off without you.' He winced as the sound of sobs started to get even louder. 'Oh be quiet for god's sake.'   
  
Quatre bit back a grin as he looked at Wufei, who was now bandaged from his right arm, shoulder and over his neck and head. 'It could have been worse. Imagine what it might have been like if you'd been fighting with a weapon instead of just hand to hand.'   
  
Wufei shot Quatre a dirty look as he moved stiffly off the sickbay bed. 'Next time, someone asks me to help their love life I'm going to leave the country.'  
  
'So what happened anyway?' Quatre couldn't resist asking as he lent Wufei a friendly shoulder to help him steady himself on his feet. 'I never found out exactly why you and Heero were fighting, and he's gone off with Trowa to get his leg x-rayed.'  
  
Wufei sighed mournfully as he looked accusingly at Duo who hadn't stopped drizzling ever since the fight.   
  
'Well, as soon as I started to mention that Duo was in my bed, Heero got angry and accused me of having an affair with him. And I lost my temper,' he admitted ruefully as Quatre snickered, 'and challenged him to a duel. And that's about all that happened, except now I've got bruises all over and my shoulder is killing me.'  
  
'That's not exactly what happened. Heero was already upset before Wufei said anything. Of course it didn't help when Wufei screwed up and blurted out the wrong thing first.' Duo lifted tear reddened eyes and sniffed dourly, 'I was reminding Wufei to tell Heero that I loved him and Heero overheard me and got confused. He thought I was saying that I loved Wufei and I don't!' Duo wailed loudly, much to the dismay of the two boys who winced in concert. 'I don't love Wufei. He's stupid. I want Heero!'  
  
Wufei turned scarlet with rage even as Quatre started to choke with laughter. 'Well I don't want you either Maxwell. You are too noisy and messy. And I don't blame Heero for not wanting you. And what's more...'  
  
*****  
  
Quatre gave a sickly grin to Trowa and Heero who were coming out of the hospital.  
  
'Why are you here?' Trowa asked curiously as he helped Heero with get down the stairs with his crutches. 'We could have gone home by ourselves.'  
  
'I'm not here to pick you up.' Quatre grimaced as Trowa and Heero stared at him, 'I've got to get to the emergency room. Wufei got here in the ambulance before me and,' he sighed, 'I've got to organize the paperwork for him before I go to the police station and pay bail for Duo.'  
  
'Duo's been arrested?' Heero asked sharply, a look of concern on his face.  
  
'Well,' Quatre reddened and tried to avoid looking at Heero. 'Wufei's a little upset right now. I'm sure he'll change his mind about pressing charges once he calms down. Look, I have to go. I'll see you later.' He fled into the hospital, leaving behind two confused boys who stared after him.  
  
*****  
  
'That dishonourable cur attacked a wounded man and without any prior warnings. Now I've got a broken leg on top of the dislocated shoulder. I want him hung, drawn and quartered.' Wufei muttered balefully as he drew a hangman on his cast.   
  
Quatre fought the urge to hit him with the bedpan as he drew a deep breath and tried again to convince him to drop the charges against Duo. 'They don't do that anymore, Wufei.' He started gently.  
  
'Well, that's probably what's wrong with the world.' Wufei glared furiously at the wilted blond, before starting to draw a large axe next to the hangman on his leg cast. 'We've become too soft. That's why no one understands the importance of justice. Love. Pah!' He snorted crossly, 'as if I ever wanted to fall in love with that idiot Maxwell. How dare he say that I'm stuffy! I'm not stuffy. I'm going to make him pay for what he did to me. And I'm glad that Heero's leaving that barbaric savage. I'm sure he'd have ended by beating him up too eventually. That wife beater.'  
  
Quatre rubbed the back of his neck trying to ease the strain of having had to argue with Wufei for over an hour. 'Just try to understand that Duo's feeling a little sensitive right now. It wasn't really a good idea to tell him that Heero would be better off without him you know. Or to suggest that you always thought that Heero and Trowa would make a good couple. Especially when you knew that they were together at the hospital. Duo's not exactly all that stable at the moment. Come on, you can't possibly press charges against your friend.' He wheedled carefully.  
  
Wufei stared at the earnest green eyes and felt his resolve soften slightly. 'Maybe, I'm being a little hard on Duo.' He admitted at last.  
  
Quatre felt beads of sweat form at the sides of his temple even as he tried not to sag with relief. 'Oh, I'm sure that Duo is very, very sorry for what he did to you. Now, please, why don't you tell the police that you've changed your mind and want to drop those charges.' He held out the phone to Wufei who scowled before taking it reluctantly.  
  
*****  
  
'He deserved everything he got.' Duo muttered rebelliously as he scraped the bars of the restraining cell with his tin cup. The other occupants of the cell were giving him nasty looks which he totally ignored as he continued to scrape on the bars and mutter to himself. 'I refuse to apologize to that pompous twit. And he is too, stupid. Heero would never ever give the time of day to boring old Trowa.' He sniffed dismally and scraped the bar again.   
  
The policeman on duty gave Duo a pained look. He gave the sergeant a look of total desperation, sighing despondently when that worthy shook his head regretfully. 'God how I hate these domestic cases.' He thought to himself in agony as the cup scraped across the bar again.  
  
*****  
  
'What about peeling the skin off an apple on a full moon and throwing it behind you to see if it spells the name of your true love?'  
  
Heero shrugged, 'we've tried that already. Not to mention it took about thirty apples before I finally managed to take the entire peel off without breaking it. Not that it worked. The only thing that happened was that this old lady started to yell at me for littering. Don't ask me what she was doing walking around the park in the middle of the night either.'   
  
Quatre frowned and picked up the next book, 'okay, hmmm..... what about putting a piece of the wedding cake under your pillow and see if you dream of your true love during the night. And it says that you have eat some of it as well.'  
  
Heero rolled his eyes. 'That was the first one we tried. All I got out of it was a stomach ache from eating too much rich food before I went to sleep, not to mention not getting a lot of sleep from the damned crumbs that went everywhere, including into my ear. Bleah.'  
  
Quatre closed the last book and shoved them out of the way. 'Well, I think you guys have tried pretty much everything. I'm not sure what else you can do. Except you could just accept that Duo really does love you, you know. Or is that too easy?' He added sarcastically, his patience definitely fraying after the hours of fruitless research.  
  
Heero shrugged helplessly as he thought of the way Duo would look at him, one minute adoring, next minute wild and teasing, and still next, totally indifferent and self absorbed.   
  
'I don't know. It's not even that I don't trust him. I just can't tell when he's being sincere and when he's not. For that matter I'm not even sure if I love him. I don't know what I feel towards him.'  
  
Quatre blew his fringe off his face impatiently as he gave Heero a cross look. 'Don't tell me that we're going through all this when you haven't even made up your mind yet. Just why are you making such a big deal about this anyway?'  
  
Heero blushed and ducked his head, hiding his eyes behind the heavy fringe, 'I haven't had a lot of experience with falling in love before.' He admitted at last, 'so I've been trying to find a manual that can tell me what I should do and how I know what it feels like. But so far, nothing that I've read or seen seems to help very much.'   
  
He twiddled his thumbs a little and looked up at Quatre, with an uncertain expression. 'It's just too confusing when Duo keeps on telling me that he loves me one minute then is screaming that he hates me, the next. I don't know what I'm supposed to do and we're always fighting, about everything. It's strange, when we were friends he wasn't like this. Okay,' Heero grimaced when Quatre gave him a highly sceptical look, 'so he was always very voluble and highly excitable. But this is different. Now I don't know what to expect when I talk to him, it's making me feel very jittery and nervous. And I feel really strange whenever I see him laughing and chatting to other people, I don't know why.' The corners of his mouth drooped slightly as he finished.  
  
Quatre took a deep breath and tried to remind himself that Heero didn't exactly have a normal childhood and couldn't be expected to understand that such things were all part of a normal relationship.   
  
'The whole point of being in a relationship is that you aren't in control Heero. You care about how the other person feels and sometimes, like Duo, you can over react. Though,' he couldn't help adding to himself in a mutter, 'he does specialize in taking things to extremes. Anyway,' his tone turned brisk, 'it's only natural that you feel more anxious when you depend on the other person's reaction and it sounds to me like you've got a mild case of jealousy too. All these are just symptoms of insecurity and the best way to deal with that is if you and Duo work out what you feel towards each other and what your future intentions are.'  
  
Heero gave Quatre an exasperated glare. 'Thank you Dr Freud. Just what do you think we've been doing? We are trying to find out if we truly love each other. And we don't. At least not according to all the signs.' Heero sighed morosely. 'Isn't there a way you can tell if some one really loves you?'  
  
Quatre stood up and started to walk off, having decided to wash his hands of the relationally challenged. 'Can't you tell when he kisses you?' He shot off as he left the room in a huff.  
  
*****  
  
'Have you ever kissed Duo?'  
  
'What!' Wufei roared as he leapt to his feet then sank back on the sofa with loud curses and black looks at Heero who simply waited patiently for him to settle down again. 'How dare you imply that I would kiss that ridiculous moron who has,' he frowned at Heero, 'extremely bad taste. I've already explained the only thing Duo did in my bed was to leave a truly disgusting mess, eh... of tissues,' he added hastily as he thought about what he was saying for once, 'which he'll pay for as soon as I get out of this cast.'  
  
'So you haven't kissed Duo.' Heero replied absently, as he crossed off a name on his chart. 'What about Quatre? Have you kissed him?'  
  
Wufei choked on the orange juice he had started to drink, spraying it all over his front, and turned a baleful glare on Heero who had managed to move just enough out of the way to avoid being hit as well. 'No.' He growled sourly, 'I haven't. Why the hell are you asking me if I've kissed our friends?'  
  
Heero hummed as he crossed off yet another name. 'Well you haven't kissed me,' his voice turned speculative as he added, 'yet,' not noticing that Wufei had gone red at his last word, 'and from what you've just said I gather you haven't kissed Trowa yet.'   
  
Wufei shook his head numbly, feeling too confused to protest any further.  
  
Heero went down the list and leaned forward confidentially. 'What about Treize? Did you kiss him? Duo thought that the two of you looked a little, you know...' He jumped hastily out of the way to avoid the orange juice and glass that flew his way.  
  
'Out. Now.' Wufei screamed, almost purple with rage. 'I didn't kiss Treize. Or Zechs, Noin, Sally, Relena or anyone. Except my wife!'  
  
Heero started to busily scratch out names on his chart as he dodged a cushion, a remote and a crutch and smoothly exited the room, writing down 'wife' carefully on his list. Then outside the room he stopped and turned around with a puzzled look, 'wife? He's married?'  
  
*****  
  
'No.'  
  
'No.'  
  
'No.'  
  
'No.'  
  
Heero sighed as he scratched out the last name on the list before turning to Trowa who was regarding him with a faint amused smile as he continued to stitch his crochet. 'Haven't you kissed anyone yet?'  
  
'No.'  
  
Heero widened his eyes at that and leaned forward, his eyes holding Trowa's. 'Would you like to?'  
  
'Yes.'  
  
Trowa answered simply and stared steadily into Heero's deep blue eyes.   
  
'Thank you.' Heero answered happily and quickly added another section to his chart, then got to his feet and started towards the kitchen.   
  
Trowa sighed softly, sounding slightly regretful, before turning his attention back to the crochet.  
  
*****  
  
'Go away Heero. I'm not your bloody love counsellor and I refuse answer any personal questions. I'm a bit busy right now.' Quatre started to chop the vegetables, wielding the knife with a little more vim than was usual.  
  
Heero simply sat down on the stool and waited silently until Quatre gave in and with a resigned sigh, he came round to the other side of the counter.  
  
'What?' He said shortly.  
  
'I've asked all our friends but they don't have a lot of experience with kissing either. So I haven't been able to get to the second section of my survey where I was going to ask how to compare the different kisses so that I could tell the kiss from my true love from just a kiss.'  
  
Quatre grinned suddenly, 'there's no such thing as just a kiss. Or there shouldn't be.' He amended quickly when he saw Heero taking notes and remembered how literal the Wing pilot could be sometimes. 'The problem with you is that you think too much. And you are in a relationship with Duo. Who doesn't think at all before he acts. Why don't you try just doing for once, instead of trying to figure out the perfect strategy all the time?'  
  
Heero looked at him with a worried face as he clutched his precious chart to his chest. 'What do you mean?' He asked cautiously.  
  
Quatre laughed and leaned forward suddenly, pressing his lips to Heero's gently, before pulling back to see the round eyed amazement on Heero's face as he touched his own lips wonderingly with his fingertips. 'There you go. Kiss number 1. Now go and try out some others. Then you'll have something to compare with when you kiss Duo. Which you haven't yet, have you?' He added shrewdly, shaking his head when Heero nodded. 'You guys act like you're in kindergarten. So when Duo steals a bite from your vanilla fudge sundae, it means that he loves you. Okay?'  
  
Heero left the kitchen in a daze, his heart hammering wildly even as he swiftly recorded everything that happened and that Quatre said.   
  
Quatre sat with a grin, and sounded to count down on his fingers, by the time he reached 7, Heero stuck his head back with an indignant look on his face. 'Does that mean that I have to let him steal my favourite CD and walkman from now on?'  
  
*****  
  
'No.'  
  
'Why not?'  
  
'Because.' Wufei's face was scarlet with embarrassment as he tried to avoid looking at Heero who was sitting a little too close to him.   
  
'Because why?' Heero asked curiously, his head held on a slight incline as he tried to keep eye contact with the blushing Shenlong pilot. 'Don't you want to kiss me?'  
  
Wufei started to cough, alarming Heero who quickly poured him a glass of water. 'I've never kissed a guy before.' He said at last.  
  
'That's okay. This is my second time.' Heero answered quite smugly, 'I'm pretty sure I know what to do.'   
  
'Second time?' Wufei asked, his black eyes widening largely, 'didn't you, eh... you and Duo...' he started to stammer, going redder and redder as Heero simply stared back blankly, 'you know, you haven't.... eh... you haven't done.... I mean... you've only kissed him once?' He said at last, deciding on the least inflammatory option.  
  
'I haven't kissed Duo yet.' Heero said calmly.  
  
'What? Who?' Wufei blustered in confusion as he tried to sort out the way he had always seen Heero from this stranger in front of him now. 'There's someone else?' He sat up on the bed indignantly. 'Are you saying that you are seeing someone else? That you want to experiment with... eh....' He collapsed back on his pillows, feeling very flushed.  
  
Heero blinked slowly, trying to understand why Wufei was getting so excited. 'I kissed Quatre. Or is that he kissed me?' He thought a little about that, remembering how Duo would always insist that he wanted to be the alpha male, whatever that meant. 'He thought that I should get some experience. He told me to try out you guys before I kiss Duo so that I have a means of comparison.'  
  
'Oh he did, did he?' Wufei seethed, as at last he realized the source of this situation, 'why that conniving little Casanova. When he comes in with my lunch I'll tell him what I think of him for taking advantage of Heero. That rat, that sneak, that...'  
  
'Um, Wufei?' Heero interrupted, 'are you going to kiss me or what? Because I want to check out Trowa before Duo comes home and I've only got 15 minutes left now.' He leaned forward, his face only inches away from a deeply flushed Wufei who gulped, before putting his arms around Heero's neck and pulling him down for a long, deep kiss.  
  
Heero looked carefully at Wufei whose face was as bright as a tomato when they finally parted. 'I didn't know that kissing was so different with different people.' He said at last. He hesitated a little longer, then when Wufei burrowed down under his doona and refused to come out, he stood up and walked out of the room, slowly.  
  
'I hate Quatre. I hate Duo. I hate Quatre. I hate Duo....' Wufei grounded his teeth as he dug in more deeply, curling into a little ball, in the soft darkness of his doona.  
  
*****   
  
'....'  
  
Heero sighed as he finally got off Trowa' lap. 'I think that was more like the way Wufei kissed me.'  
  
Trowa had a rather wicked glint in his eyes as he reached up and grabbed Heero's hand. 'Well, you still haven't experienced what it's like to have me kiss you. You've shown me the way Quatre and Wufei kissed you, so it's only fair for me to show you what I can do. Right?'  
  
Heero sank back on top on Trowa's lap, cupping his hands around the other's face. 'So it does make a difference between where you are kissing someone or being kissed?'  
  
Trowa shrugged, as he wound his arms around Heero's slender waist and pulled him in closer. 'I don't know. Remember, I have even less experience than you. So why don't we try to find out together?'  
  
*****  
  
'For god's sake, stop arguing with the cab driver Duo.' Quatre scowled as he looked at his half emptied purse, he had to increase the tip significantly to get rid of the angry man who wanted continue his tirade about how Duo had insisted on tapping on the window between the driver and himself, the entire time he was in the cab, because he said it made him feel claustrophobic after his experience in the restraining cell.  
  
Duo kicked angrily at the front door that remained stubbornly closed. He was furious that no one, or rather, that Heero hadn't come to pick him up. On the phone, Heero had mentioned something about being too busy with some research. He was still furious with Wufei over having had to endure the indignity of being arrested and then being held in custody while Quatre arranged his bail. In the end, since Wufei agreed to drop the charges, the police had been only too happy to just let him go but then when he very reasonably told them that he wanted the arrest record expunged, they got very uptight and all legalistic. It had taken a little longer before Quatre's lawyer managed to convince the police that it was in their interests to just let him go.   
  
Duo felt cross and he felt unloved. That stupid Wufei, this was all his fault. And where was Heero anyway. 'I knew it. I know that cold hearted bastard never really loved me. If he loved me, he would have been there for me, to hold my hand while I was in custody.' Duo sulked out loud as he scratched at the door.  
  
'What do you think you're doing to my door?' Quatre yelled indignantly as he finally finished dragging Duo's suitcase up the stairs.   
  
Despite misgivings, he had finally agreed to pack all his essentials (at least everything that Duo thought he had to have, like his hair dryer, favourite hair products, several changes of underwear and outer wear because he thought that he should have a choice, the damned high boots, mirror and so on) and send it along with the lawyer when he got sick of hearing Duo screaming at him through the phone. Quatre hadn't been impressed by the police who were obvious extremely lax in allowing their prisoner so many phone calls. He conveniently forgot that he didn't have to be on the other end, where Duo was slowly driving them all mad.  
  
Quatre stared at the scratches and dents left on the door by Duo's fingernails and boots and swallowed the impulse to throw the heavy suitcase at him. For one thing, it was too damned heavy. He dug out the key from his pocket and kicked the suitcase towards Duo, who still had a sullen look on his face.   
  
'Do you have any idea how must you cost me today? From the hospital bills for Heero, who didn't even have a fracture after all that fuss, just a slight sprain which he's already ignoring, to Wufei, who still has to go in for more treatments, to your bail, to my lawyer's fees which by the way, he's doubled after the kick you gave him at the station! I'm the sucker who's had to pay for all that. And now look at what you've done to my door!'  
  
Duo stuck out his tongue before dashing inside the house. 'What a nag.' He thought crossly. Then he screeched to a halt as he passed the open doorway of the living room and suddenly recognised the two bodies entwined together on the reclining armchair.  
  
'Heero.' He breathed out in shock.  
  
'Trowa!' Duo screamed in total fury and leapt towards the taller boy as the two bodies disentangled and stood up on his entry.  
  
*****  
  
'I thought you weren't coming.' Zechs said in surprise as he recognized the hobbling figure coming towards him. 'And why are you wearing sunnies? We are indoors you know.'  
  
Heero put up a hand indicating that Zechs should lower his voice. 'Please, don't call any attention to me.' He muttered softly as he pulled the hat down even further on his head. 'I'm sorry I'm so late but it took longer than I thought to avoid being detected.'  
  
'Excuse me?' Zechs asked in puzzlement. 'Being detected by what?'  
  
'More like who.' Heero muttered to himself as he kept on glancing at his wrist chronometer nervously. 'How much longer before we can board the shuttle?'  
  
'Are you running away from something?' Zechs sounded concerned as he too involuntarily started craning his neck, looking around the crowd, though he had no idea, for what or who. 'Can I help?'  
  
'No.' Heero answered quickly, 'no one can help. Not anymore. And I'm not running away.' He sounded defensive, 'I'm just trying to defuse a potentially destructive situation.' He shuddered as a sudden image of furious violet eyes rose in his mind. 'I can't believe he got so upset over a few kisses.'  
  
Zechs blinked in confusion. 'Kisses?'   
  
Heero looked at the tall blond speculatively, then he leaned forward and whispered softly. 'Have you ever been kissed?'  
  
*****  
  
'Heero! Come back here! Where ever you are! Heero! Don't you dare kiss anyone else! Heero!'  
  
Wufei held out a shaking hand to grab more cottonballs. He wished that his leg had healed so that he could run, but unfortunately he had been left, completely helpless, at the mercy of a loud, crazy baka who insisted on taking care of him, since there wasn't anyone else left in the house.  
  
'Quatre, I am going to make you pay for this. If it takes me the rest of my life, I'll make you pay.' Wufei crammed in the cottonballs in his ears, wishing that he could go deaf.  
  
*****  
  
'So how much longer do you think we have to stay here?' Trowa asked blandly as he stirred his cappuccino and smelled the fresh sea breeze coming off the Sydney Harbour.  
  
Quatre shrugged and bit into the creamy croissant with evident enjoyment. 'Who knows. As long as we stay away from Heero, there's no reason to worry about Duo. I feel sorry for Zechs, all he knows at the moment is that he's hired a Consultant for his budding company Marquise Inc. He's in for a world of trouble as soon as Duo figures out where Heero's gone.'  
  
Trowa sipped his cappuccino happily, even as he decided to order another serving of waffles and strawberries. There was something about sea air that definitely wet the appetite. 'And how is he to know that? Heero's erased all trace of his whereabouts didn't he?'  
  
Quatre sniggered as he pulled his ice cream coffee towards him. 'Well, I don't think that he realized that Zechs has done an interview while he was on earth, to promote his company. Or that he was mentioned, by name during the interview, as a new Consultant on the project to make a new microchip.'  
  
'Ooh.' Trowa winced as he dug his fork into the steaming waffle. 'That is bad isn't it.'  
  
'Not our problem.' Quatre said smugly as he savoured the cold sweetness on his tongue. 'Besides which Duo's far angrier with you than me, so if worst comes to worst..'  
  
Trowa's lips twitched slightly as he surveyed his lovely companion. 'You'll just run for cover and leave me behind, right?'  
  
Quatre nodded apologetically as he reached for the platter of fruits. 'Yeah. No offence Trowa but you got to kiss Heero a lot more than me so...' He bit neatly into a slice of melon, as he gave Trowa a long lingering look from under his lashes. 'You know, I never knew that you were so... interested in experimentation.' His voice turned slightly husky as he leaned forward until his lips were just a touch away from Trowa's. 'Are you still... interested?'  
  
Trowa leaned back in his chair, amused by the way Quatre's lips continued to follow him until the blond was perched somewhat precariously over the table. 'Maybe...' He whispered back softly.  
  
*****  
  
tbc...  
  
Kat: Yep, this one's revised as well. Bear with me until all the 'old' fics have been tidied up. Parts 2 and 3 will be posted soon. ^_^  
  
  



	2. Part 2

Warning: We all know that love spurned can be a dangerous thing. The GW boys are about to discover how scary Duo really is. He is after all, 'Shinigami', the God of Death.   
  
YAOI, OOC (major time) and Humour  
  
  
Part 2.  
  
  
'It was only a kiss. It's not that big a deal.'  
  
'There's no such thing as only a kiss.'  
  
'Why are you making such a fuss over a few kisses?'  
  
'A few kisses! Who else have you been kissing!'  
  
And the conversation had gone rapidly downhill from there, ending with his inglorious retreat from the living room and Duo, whose screeches had continued to echo in his ears even after he locked himself in his room.  
  
Heero sighed heavily and leaned his head against the headrest of his seat, unable to stop himself from replaying his last conversation with Duo, over and over again. He looked over at the grim profile of the man sitting in the driver's chair and grimaced, knowing that it was futile to try to argue against the coming meeting. God knows he'd tried to explain how unreasonable Duo had been but Wufei just refused to take no for an answer.   
  
'I can't believe you're forcing me to meet him.' Heero muttered sullenly, as he tugged impatiently at his seatbelt.  
  
'I can't believe you and the others ran off and left me with him.' Wufei retorted icily as he concentrated on his driving, pressing down even harder on the accelerator.  
  
Heero wilted into his chair as he noted the tightening muscles around Wufei's tight lips and dropped his head, hiding his eyes under the heavy brown fringe. 'It's not my fault that Quatre and Trowa ran off together.' He couldn't resist replying, though in a subdued voice.   
  
Wufei gritted his teeth as he suddenly wrenched the wheel, forcing his convertible into a wild swerve, alarming the little old lady driving the 79 volkswagon in the next lane.   
  
'Don't even mention that blond's name.' He spat furiously as he viciously changed his gears, speeding up even further.   
  
Heero whitened and clenched his fists as their car weaved madly from one lane to the next, its tires squealing loudly in protest.   
  
'Okay.' Heero whispered at last, swallowing nervously as Wufei slammed on the brakes, just before he turned the sharp corner around the cliff, 'don't mention the blon... eh...' he swallowed hastily, 'what's his name. Got it. Don't you think that you better slow down a little now?' He added pleadingly as the yellow convertible whizzed by the exit sign of the freeway, 'I mean, you wouldn't want to get a speeding ticket. Right?'   
  
Wufei scowled but reluctantly changed gears again and slowed the car down to a respectable seventy miles, just before they sped past a traffic cop hiding behind a bush.   
  
Heero looked back at the cop who blared into action, after the blue BMW that just flashed past them, and sighed wistfully when the white motorbike with blazing red siren disappeared into the horizon. 'You really should drive more carefully.' He admonished Wufei weakly and straightened his posture.  
  
Wufei merely snorted in response but their car did drop the speed a little and stayed sedately in one lane.   
  
'This was all your fault anyway, Yuy. You and your kissing survey! Huh. Well, its way past time you got back and took responsibility for that nutcase. I want you to do something about him. Or at the very least, get him away from me. Or else...' He ended with a deep growl in his throat.  
  
Heero winced as he looked at the pink and green streaks in Wufei's hair. He opened his mouth to protest further but looked at the little vein throbbing in the other man's temple and wisely thought otherwise. He had been too shocked at Wufei's changed appearance to say much when he had first appeared and since then, hadn't really been given much of a chance to talk: Wufei had turned up, held him at gunpoint and marched him into the shuttle.  
  
Heero sighed again as he looked at the glittering colours on Wufei's nails and shuddered inwardly. He knew that he had to get away from his crazed friend, make that friends, he adjusted silently, thinking of what was waiting for him at the end of the enforced trip. He wasn't sure if he had really understood how kissing worked or whether it really did tell him who he loved but he was pretty sure that he was enjoying his new job and wasn't too keen on getting embroiled in a messy situation. Again.   
  
*****  
  
'Where is he?'  
  
Quatre quailed from the enraged apparition in front of him.   
  
'Oh my god...' He swallowed nervously, his eyes widening with shock and horror. 'What happened to you?'  
  
'What do you think happened to me! You blond traitor! Look at me! Look at my hair! Look at what he did to me! Arrrrrrrgh!'  
  
Quatre paled and slowly backed away, wishing that he still had the Magnacs around to guard him, and yes, he admitted to himself, of course he used them as cannon fodder, whenever he needed to run. It was so unreasonable of Rashid to have gotten so cross over that little incident in Tehran, or to still hold grudges. He broke out into a cold sweat as a pair of rabid - but still very pretty, he had to admit - green eyes bore into him.   
  
'You know Trowa,' he tried to smile and failed miserably. 'It's not that bad. Once that bald patch grows back, I think this new hairstyle might actually suit you better. You know, that old bang of yours did hide your face a bit too much I thought. I..... ah....'   
  
He tweaked his collar nervously as the green eyes slowly froze into two pieces of ice, surrounded by pale and limp, he shuddered, chartreuse streaked auburn hair. Quatre took a deep breath, smiled charmingly and made sure that he had a clear path to the door, before admitting, 'Okay. So Duo really did a number on your hair.'   
  
Trowa looked ready to explode, but his voice was deceptively sweet and mild. 'So kind of you to notice.' His voice changed and became harsher, more of a growl as he snapped the pair of scissors in his right hand and squeezed the glue pot in his left, 'where... is.... he...!' He intoned impatiently as he stepped deliberately closer to the quailing blond.   
  
'I... I'm not too sure.' Quatre's smile was now more of a grimace. He dropped his eyes guiltily even as he shifted closer to the open doorway, 'I didn't really see anything while I was locked up in the bathroom. Remember?' He added weakly, 'the lock jammed? But I can guess.' He added hastily as Trowa clicked the scissors ominously, eyeing his long blond fringe, 'I'm pretty sure that he went home. I mean, to our old place. Right? I think I heard him screaming something about Heero and Wufei. That is from the keyhole.'   
  
He gulped and froze as Trowa stopped in his tracks, a nasty gleam in his eyes. He started to sweat more as Trowa thought for a moment, then finally relaxed his hold on the scissors and the glue pot, though Quatre did note nervously that he hadn't let them go yet.   
  
'Okay.'  
  
'Okay?' Quatre's face brightened up.  
  
'Let's go.' Trowa turned and started towards the door, then stopped, obviously expecting Quatre to follow him.  
  
'Let's go?' Quatre squeaked involuntarily, even as he started to follow after him, reluctantly. 'You want me to go? With you? To see Duo?' He couldn't stop himself from blurting out.  
  
Trowa nodded grimly, as he lovingly cradled the big pair of scissors and the glue pot in his hands. 'Yes.' He answered shortly. 'With me. To Duo. Now.'  
  
Quatre was unable to stop himself from giving a dismal sniff before he answered in a very small voice.   
  
'Okay.'  
  
*****  
  
'You tried to run away.'  
  
'I did not.'  
  
'You did so.'  
  
'I did not. And stop being so paranoid.'  
  
'I'm not paranoid. And you did so try to run away.'  
  
'You do realize that you are sounding like a five year old now.'   
  
Heero harrumphed disapprovingly, blushing furiously under the curious stares that were directed at him and Wufei. 'I refuse to continue this ridiculous argument any further unless you can talk in a more mature and reasonable manner.'  
  
'How dare you insult my honour!' Wufei shrieked loudly, attracting even more attention as newcomers into the MacDonalds stopped at the doorway with open mouths. 'I demand satisfaction!'  
  
'Oh my god!' Heero groaned as he tried to pull the cap down even further, shrinking into his seat as a rather annoyed looking chubby man wearing 'Hi, I'm your Macfriendly Manager' badge walked towards them. 'I'm going to be thrown out of a MacDonalds family restaurant. Colour me humiliated.'  
  
'That should be my line.' Wufei mutter sourly as he dragged his hood down even further until only his nose and chin remained visible. 'And don't think that I don't know that this is yet another one of your ploys, Yuy. Well, it's not going to work.' He reached out and grabbed Heero's cringing hand and started to drag him out of his seat. 'We're leaving.' He sniffed proudly as the manager finally arrived at their table. 'I think you should know that your fries aren't crisp enough and that the burger was cold in the middle.'  
  
'The buns were a little burnt as well.' Heero called back over his shoulder with a cool stare, even as he was dragged out of the restaurant.   
  
'Don't look at them darling.' A young mother grabbed her little boy and hid his face against her skirt, where he impatiently moved aside the plaid so that he could continue peaking at the funny men who were screaming at each other even as they got into a yellow car.   
  
*****  
  
'Can't you go any faster?'  
  
Quatre felt himself sweating again, under the baleful glare blazing out of his rear-view mirror.   
  
'Only if you want me to be arrested by the traffic cop, hiding behind the advertisement board.'  
  
Trowa narrowed his eyes suspiciously, peering out impatiently, until they passed the said board and he satisfied himself that there was indeed a police car parked behind it.   
  
'Fine. Stay within the speed limit.' He growled as he snapped the big scissors impatiently in the air.  
  
Quatre cringed and try to hitch up a little closer to the front of his seat.   
  
'Do you mind putting that down?' He asked politely, 'it's just that it's making me very, very edgy and you know that's not really good for driving.'  
  
Trowa wasn't listening to him, he had his head stuck out of the car window, and ignoring the sudden squealing of the brakes of the nearby cars as they got a good look at his hair, pointed imperiously to the large shop in front of the lights and told Quatre to stop the car.   
  
'I want to pick up a few things from that shop.' He explained shortly as soon as they managed to park then disappeared promptly into the shop, leaving Quatre in the car wondering if he dared to sneak away.   
  
Quatre quickly changed his mind and pasted on a sweet smile when a sour looking Trowa poked his, very colourful head, out of the shop and crooked his finger at him. He trotted out of the car meekly, only to return to the car immediately, looking somewhat miffed.  
  
'I should have known he only wanted me for my money.' He said sadly as he returned to the shop.  
  
*****  
  
'Hello?'  
  
'Yo!'  
  
'Hello? Hello? I'm sorry. I can't hear anything. Could you please turn that music down?'  
  
'No.'  
  
'No? Ah... okay. Who am I talking to please?'  
  
'Identify yourself first.'  
  
'Right. I'm Zechs. As in Marquis Inc. I'm trying to locate an employee.'  
  
'You're who?'  
  
'Zechs!'  
  
'Sex? What a pervert.'  
  
'Nooooo. Don't hang up, don't!....' Zechs looked at the beeping phone in his hand in a mixture of desperation and annoyance. He looked again at the scribbled note in his hand and checked the numbers carefully, then took a deep breath and tried again.  
  
'Hello?' He winced back as the loud music blared out from the earpiece once again.  
  
'Yo.'  
  
'I'm Ze... I'm Millard Peacecraft. I'd like to speak to Duo Maxwell.'  
  
'Uo Ax what?'  
  
'Duo! Doooo Ohhhh! D.. U... O.... Duo! Duo! Duo!' Zechs couldn't help screaming out.  
  
'Hey! That's my name. Don't wear it out. So who are you?'  
  
'Turn that music off, you moron!'  
  
'I don't have to take that kind of abuse you know.'  
  
'Oh no! Nooooooo! Dooooon't ha.....' Zechs looked at the beeping phone in his hand and sagged helplessly in defeat. It was beginning to look as if the only way he'd be able to get any answer out of Duo Maxwell regarding the whereabouts of his employee, Heero Yuy, would be if he went down to Earth in person. He remembered that Heero had given him an address when he had first interviewed him for his position, if only he could remember where he had placed the piece of paper with the address...  
  
*****  
  
'You know that he's going to kill me.'  
  
'...'  
  
'That makes you an accessory. Before and after the fact.'  
  
'...'  
  
'It was only a little kiss. Okay,' Heero admitted grudgingly when Wufei gave him a pointed look, 'a couple of kisses. Not a big deal. Hey. Now what did I say?' He protested when Wufei gave him a dirty look.  
  
'One of those kisses was with me, remember?' Wufei managed to ground out at last, his fingers whitening on the wheel.  
  
'So?' Heero looked at him blankly with wide blue eyes.   
  
'So?' Wufei choked, and the car swerved crazily, narrowly avoiding the schoolboy on the bicycle, who teetered wildly when they passed him and just managed to tumble off safely on the lawn of a nearby house. 'So? That's all you have to say? We kissed and you say, so? You, you, you..... I demand satisfaction!'  
  
'You always demand satisfaction.' Heero answered blandly, as he squirmed around in his seat so that he could face Wufei directly. He noticed with interest that Wufei had turned a brilliant red from neck up and wondered why he looked so flustered. 'What do you want me to say?'  
  
'I... I... I don't want you to say anything!' Wufei choked out at last, his face purpling slowly with rage. 'You cold hearted, little, manipulative, double timing, no good, cheating... rotter! Death is too good for you.'  
  
'Fine. Then let me off at the next stop.' Heero needled deliberately, trying to see how much further he could push Wufei before he exploded.   
  
'Wha...'  
  
Heero sighed, as he reminded himself that Wufei had never been too good at word games. 'Death. Remember? As in Duo. He's too good for me. I agree. So lets forget about this little reunion. Now.' Adding to himself silently, 'while I'm still alive... and in one colour.'   
  
'This was a trick. You tried to trick me again.'  
  
'Ye gods. Here we go again.' Heero rolled his eyes as Wufei started to foam at the mouth. 'Did you take lessons on paranoia or were you just born that way?'  
  
'Now you're insulting my parents. My honour demands satisfaction.'  
  
'Everything about you demands satisfaction!' Heero shouted at last, driven mad by the continuous repetition. 'I'll give you satisfaction! I'll... I'll...' He reddened as Wufei suddenly fixed his dark eyes on him. 'I... ah... Look out!' He screamed and dove for the wheel as a large trailer swerved desperately, trying to avoid a frontal collision.   
  
'Don't look at me, when you're driving.' He panted, his heart thumping wildly as the car returned to their lane.  
  
Wufei looked at the hands still holding on to his on the wheel and nodded obediently, the beads of sweat rolling down the sides of his face. 'We'll talk at the next rest stop.' He managed to say finally.   
  
Heero grunted wordlessly as he slowly moved his hands off the wheel and settled back into his own seat. All his friends got so touchy and unreasonable whenever he tried to discuss this whole kissing business, he mused sulkily.  
  
*****  
  
The middle-aged woman wearing old-fashioned curlers stuffed in her brown hair tweaked impatiently at the cotton curtains in her living room. She glared at the large red-bricked house sitting opposite her front lawn and frowned when a flashy looking silver Mercedes convertible drove into its driveway.   
  
She pursed her narrow lips, pulling down the corners of her mouth when the car beeped loudly, sniffing disdainfully when no reaction came from the house, from which loud and harsh metallic tones of music came blaring out.   
  
After a while the silver car finally stopped its beeping and a tall man, with sunny blond hair came out and walked up to the door very hesitantly, all the while glancing backwards at the car. He knocked on the door and waited, then rang the bell and waited. When he got no response, the blond man started to walk around the house, trying to peer in through the black drapes that hid its interior at every window. He then went to the garage door and started to pull and shove against the immobile doors.   
  
After which, she saw him return to the car, stick his head in and argue with someone inside, and return to the door again, after a few minutes, looking a bit paler. The blond man began to hammer the door loudly, using both fists, occasionally cast a pleading eye on the silver car.   
  
'Gladys, how many times do I have to tell you not to peep at our neighbours?'  
  
A short balding man looked up disapprovingly from behind his newspaper. His wife ignored him and continued to stare at the blond man. She frowned even further when she recognised the yellow convertible that came screeching down the street and slammed to a halt in front of the house.   
  
She saw two men, one wearing a cap and another who remained hidden behind the hood of his grey parker and jiggled excitedly when they approached the door and started to talk with the blond man. She gasped in surprise when she saw a man with limp looking chartreuse streaked auburn hair with a rather obvious bald patch in the side of his head, come out of the car with a huge shopping basket, where a pair of very large, very sharp scissors could be seen glinting out of one corner.   
  
She pouted sullenly when her husband reached across her and suddenly pulled the cotton curtains shut.  
  
'I told you before Gladys. Don't peep at our neighbours.'   
  
She stuck out her tongue as her husband returned to his newspaper and looked avidly at her pink telephone. She was pretty sure that the four men were desperadoes who would probably kill everyone across the street and... she stopped. Well... she weakened as she remembered all the times when she had approached her unusual neighbours and asked them to be a little more considerate of others who lived nearby and the rude way they had treated her.   
  
One of them had even challenged her to a duel when she tried to explain that she'd call the police. Maybe it really wasn't her business what they did over there after all, she reasoned happily as she went into the kitchen and started to chop up some carrots.  
  
*****  
  
'My god.'  
  
'Will you stop saying that?'  
  
'My god.' Heero repeated numbly as he looked at Trowa who simply growled and clutched his large shopping bag more tightly. He started to back away when he felt a hand slam down on his shoulder and he turned pleading eyes on Wufei, who merely pointed silently to the now open door.   
  
'Doomed. I'm doomed. You're all foul accomplices. You are witnesses. I want to go home.' He whimpered fretfully, staring at the transformed interior of their old home in horror. He flinched when the door slammed shut behind them with a loud bang.   
  
'What the hell happened to my house!' Quatre wailed, as he took in the black drapes that covered all light from the outside, the streaks of coloured paints that ran wildly over every surface, zigzagging crazily across the walls, the ceilings and the floor.   
  
He started to cry when he looked at the living room and found that instead of the luxurious leather couch, he was now the proud owner of green felted sofa set, a thick orange coloured shawl, with a tiger pattern, draped over the 3-seater. The crystal chandeliers had been replaced with bronze candle holders shaped like claws and he moaned when he saw melted wax all over his treated cedar floor.   
  
'He's been.... redecorating.' Wufei offered curtly as he pulled the hood off his head and Quatre and Trowa turned stunned eyes on his curling locks.  
  
'On what?' Quatre blurted out at last, too shocked to even try to be diplomatic. 'What the hell happened?'  
  
'That's what I'd like to know.'  
  
Heero paled and wilted, trying to hide behind Wufei as he recognised the cold voice that rang out clearly in the sudden silence.  
  
'Welcome home.' Duo smiled sweetly as he walked down the stairs, his eyes glued only on one face, who smiled back feebly, as he slowly descended, his black robes sweeping behind him.  
  
*****  
  
'It was all his fault.'  
  
'That's not true. Who got him started anyway?'  
  
'It wasn't my idea. Really.'  
  
'I want him to pay. You are going to pay. Do you hear me?'  
  
'Enough.'   
  
The four men turned as one and sat down again obediently, only to grimace painfully, the harsh fabric irritating their exposed skin as they automatically leaned back against the sofa. They turned their attention on the pacing figure in front of them, somewhat rattled by the way he would sweep his long train from behind him, with each turn.   
  
Duo finally came to a stop in front of Heero who visibly shrank back as the bright violet eyes fixed upon him.   
  
'Why did you leave me Heero?'  
  
Heero felt his heart start to palpitate as he searched desperately for a safe answer. He was pretty sure that 'because you were throwing things at me, like that lamp and the CD rack and I was afraid that you'd start grabbing knives' was probably not it. He looked at his three friends, who all pointedly avoided his pleading gaze and smiled weakly at Duo to try to buy some time, while he promised himself to get back at them for being so cowardly.   
  
'I.. um... I didn't really leave you Duo.' He managed at last, feeling rather proud of himself. 'I got a job. With Zechs. And I had to go. That's all really. So technically, there was no leaving anyone. Right?' He couldn't help himself from asking for reassurance.  
  
Duo continued to stare at him silently and Heero felt his heart thumping faster and faster as his toes started to curl in his shoes.   
  
'You had a job.'  
  
Heero nodded frantically.   
  
'You didn't leave me.'  
  
He shook his head fervently.   
  
'Why didn't you ask me to go with you?'  
  
Heero froze, his eyes blinking madly as he tried to think of an answer.   
  
'Why didn't I ask you to go with me?' He repeated slowly and numbly. 'I... um... I didn't think of that.' He spoke without thinking then winced as his words caught up with his brain.  
  
'That's right!' Duo screamed at Heero, who quailed and slunk backwards on his seat. 'You didn't think. Like you didn't think when Quatre suggested that you try kissing other people. Like you didn't think before you took off with that other blond bimbo. Like you didn't think about how I'd feel. All alone!'  
  
'Hey!' Wufei protested mildly, flinching when all eyes turned in his direction. 'I just wanted to say that you weren't completely alone.' He added sullenly, glaring accusingly at Quatre, who merely sniffed and turned his attention back to Duo.  
  
'All alone.' Duo repeated grimly, deliberately ignoring Wufei's interruption. 'Do you have any idea how much I missed you? How worried I was about you? I didn't know where you were, or who you were with!'  
  
Heero hesitated, as he almost lifted a protesting hand then stayed silent, thinking better of the impulse to correct his irate friend.  
  
'How could you do that to me! That was so irresponsible. Oh Heero!' Duo wailed suddenly as he launched himself at Heero and started to cry into his neck. 'I missed you so much. I'm so glad to see you. I knew you'd come back to me. I knew that those kisses with other people didn't mean anything. You know that I love you don't you?' He lifted teary eyes and looked into Heero's eyes, totally missing the frantic flicker in the cobalt blue irises as the other three carefully started to get up from their seats.   
  
Heero looked at the blubbering mess in his arms and sighed deeply. Somehow he couldn't help wondering whether this was what love was supposed to be like. He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and started to mop Duo's face carefully.   
  
'You know Duo. I did try to explain that a kiss was only a kiss....' Heero gasped as he was suddenly pushed down and he found himself staring up at a transformed Duo whose eyes had hardened into purple glass.  
  
'Oh shit!' Wufei blurted out as he started to scramble towards the door, totally ignoring the sudden yelp behind him as Duo grabbed hold of a lock of Heero's hair.  
  
'Wait for me.' Quatre panted out hastily as he managed to reach the door right after Wufei, making sure to close it behind him even as Trowa suddenly upended his shopping bag and started to rummage amongst the mess. They then turned and closed the door behind them firmly, not stopping until they reached their respective cars.  
  
Quatre smiled sickly at Wufei who merely glared at him before slamming his car doors and screeching out of the driveway. He bit his lips as he looked at the house before him, trying to make up his mind. Even as he hesitated, hovering between the open car door, a black cab pulled into the driveway before him and he saw a tall man, with long platinum hair come out of the cab.   
'Zechs.' He called out automatically, as the blond man approached the noisy house.   
  
*****  
  
Heero was shaking badly, trying to hide behind the overturned coffee table as he saw spray and gel fly all around him. He could hear loud snips and screams every now and then but didn't feel up to poking his head up from behind the wooden table. For a minute he wished that Duo had kept the glass table that Quatre had bought, but then reminded himself that if he could see, then he could also be seen, and decided that he was better off as it was. That Duo.   
  
He was so unreasonable. Heero fingered the gold glitter on his fringe and decided that he had been lucky that it hadn't been anything more permanent. He had scuttled behind the table out of shock when Duo had thrown open the long black robes to reveal all the paints and other equipments that he hadn't gotten a good look at, and didn't want to either. He remembered that Wufei had mentioned something about art as therapy and reminded himself to find the shrink responsible and have a little chat with him. In a Gundam. Later. If he got out of this alive and reasonably undecorated.   
  
'You floozy! Take that! Huh! Scored.'  
  
'Oh Yeah? Ha ha ha! So much for long hair!'  
  
'Arrrrgh! My hair! My braid! My hair is my life!'  
  
'Not... any... more.... ' came a satisfied hiss as Heero peeked up from his table, turning horrified eyes on the short stump hanging out of Trowa's hand. He sagged back behind his cover with relief as he realized that Duo had only lost an inch off the bottom. Not that Duo took it so calmly.  
  
'Arrrrrgh!'  
  
Heero couldn't resist popping his head up again, as this time, he recognised Trowa's voice. He gasped in shock as he looked at the tiny little clown decorating Trowa's wrist and realized that Duo had managed to tattoo the little thing in less than a minute.   
  
'That's it. You crazy psycopath! You are so dead!'   
  
Heero ducked down again and started to push the wooden table towards the doorway, trying not to be noticed by the frenzied pair. He had decided that his only course of action now was flight. And he wanted to make sure that he got away before this battle ended, one way or another. He started to mutter a prayer under his breath as he inched his way towards the doorway, freezing in his tracks when he heard a loud thump against the table.   
  
He cautiously peeked up again and after checking on the two combatants, who were now screaming even louder as they pulled at each others' hair, he looked down at the table and paled when he saw a pair of gleaming scissors stuck firmly on the table's side. Heero immediately started to shuffle towards the door again with renewed determination, making sure that the table stayed firmly next to his side.   
  
*****  
  
'But... but...'  
  
'Name?'  
  
'But... I had nothing to do with...'  
  
'Please sir. Just give us your name.'  
  
'Zechs Merquise.'  
  
'Occupation?'  
  
'CEO of Marquise Inc.'  
  
'Address?'  
  
'Oh come on! I'm trying to tell you this is all a mistake and...'  
  
'Address?'  
  
Zechs looked at the polite blank face of the young officer who was taking his statement and groaned loudly in defeat. He glared at the four men who were sitting quietly behind him, waiting for him to finish giving his statement. It had taken over three hours to take Duo's statement and everyone was feeling very tired and irritable. He turned imploring eyes on the lady who had identified him as one of the participants in the brawl and eyeing her smug, satisfied grin, decided against asking her to change her mind.   
  
'I have a sister on Earth. Can I give you her address instead?' He tried at last. 'My sister is Relena Peacecraft. As in President Peacecraft. So why don't you call her and tell her that you are trying to arrest her brother?' He ended smugly.  
  
The young officer turned to the records keeper and added emotionlessly. 'Please add influence paddling to the list of charges Sergeant. Address please. Your own.' He finished grimly.  
  
Zechs paled further and pulled out his wallet and shoved his card at the young officer who merely grunted and passed it on to the Sergeant recording the details.   
  
'Reason for visiting Earth.'  
  
'I was looking for an employee. Heero Yuy. That's the guy with the piece of orange coloured shawl stuck to his hair.' Zechs muttered sullenly, feeling very uncooperative.  
  
'What happened when you found Mr Yuy? In your own words please. And try to be brief.'  
  
'Nothing.' Zechs howled in frustration. 'I didn't do anything. I didn't see anything. I just got there. And...'  
  
The young officer looked pointedly at the jagged edge of Zech's hair and the sparkling nose-ring that he now sported and raised his eyebrow.   
  
Zechs flushed deeply. 'I got attacked.' He managed to get out at last, as he tried to organize his memory of the confusing events that occurred when he entered that mad house.   
  
He pointed a trembling hand at Duo, whose attention was focused on trying to get the tangled comb out of his hair, ignoring the dangling brush and toothbrush still hanging behind him. 'It was all him. And that maniac.' Pointing at Trowa, who was absorbed with his efforts to stick pieces of hair back on his head, trying valiantly to conceal the bald spot on the top right side of his head. 'And that... that...' he choked incoherently as he pointed at Quatre, who was frantically rubbing the colourful spots on his hand, and arm and neck and cheek. 'He's the one who tricked me into going inside. He could have warned me, saved me. But he deliberately sent me inside knowing that I'd end up like this.' Zechs pointed at his nose-ring with despair welling out of his eyes. 'Look at me. Look at what they did to me. I'm a victim I tell you.'  
  
The young officer looked at Zechs and then at the others and shrugged. 'Actually, you all look like that so I don't believe that it proves anything one way or another. The only part of your story that matches with the others is that you were interested in Mr Yuy.'  
  
Zechs howled in anguish. 'Only professionally! I swear.'  
  
'So you always fly to another world after an employee just because he doesn't come to work for one day?' The young officer asked, not bothering to hide the scepticism in his voice. 'And what about Mr Yuy's kissing survey, did you particpate as well?'  
  
Zechs blanched as three sets of eyes drilled into him. 'What has that got to do with anything?' He blustered at last, sweating visibly. 'I'm telling you that I got attacked. Do something about that!'  
  
The officer sniffed, 'I will, as soon as I get to the bottom of all this. Since apparently, this quarrel was sparked by Mr Yuy and his research.' He tsked disapprovingly as he looked over his notes. 'As soon as Mr Chang is apprehended and brought to this station, we can get his statement also. But unless you become more cooperative Mr Merquise, this is going to take forever. Now as I was saying, about you and Mr Yuy.'   
  
Zechs felt a cold chill run down his spine as he saw the nasty glitter in Duo's eyes and swallowed hard. 'There is no me and Mr Yuy. There never was and never will be. Fine. I kissed him. Once. That's all. It's not a big deal. It's only a ...' Zechs stopped as suddenly a black blur slammed into him and started to choke him. He gasped for breath as the two police officers finally managed to pry off the iron fingers from around his throat and drag Duo back to his chair. 'Did you see that? Did you see the way he attacked me with no provocation? I demand justice. I demand...'  
  
'Stop talking like Wufei.' Heero interrupted suddenly as his attention was pulled away from the shawl that he had been wrestling with. 'And don't blame Duo. And don't talk about kissing. Ever. I'm never kissing anyone again. As long as I live.' He finished fervently as he continued to tug at the immovable cloth welded on to his hair.  
  
Zechs glared at Heero who totally ignored him and rubbed at his bruised throat indignantly. 'Is that all the thanks I get for trying to rescue you Heero? You do realize that I came all this way just to see if you were all right? And look at what your boyfriend did to me. How am I going to explain this,' he pointed at his nose-ring, 'any of this,' he waved his hand wildly, indicating the station and the police, '..to Noin? What's she going to say when she hears that I've been arrested!' He shrieked wildly and hid his face behind his hands.   
  
*****  
  
'Thank you Relena.'   
  
'Yeah, thanks queenie. I can't believe you manage to talk the police and that lady, my God, especially that lady, into dropping all the charges.'  
  
'I am so grateful. Words can not express how I felt when I saw you standing there. The way you looked in that white dress. You are an angel. You are...'  
  
'Oh shove it Quartre. Thanks Relena. You do promise not to tell Noin about any of this right? I swear I won't ever so much as look in Heero's direction ever again. Really. You can trust me.'  
  
Relena giggled as she turned to the silent man by her side and winked at him before she entered her pink limousine gracefully. She hadn't been able to stop laughing ever since Wufei had first contacted her for help and she felt that she had been more than amply rewarded by the sight that greeted her when she arrived at the station with Wufei in tow. She chortled out loud as she remembered the awed and reverent look on their faces when they saw her appear in front of them, the papers of their release in her hands. She chuckled happily as she tapped on the window pane in front of her and held out her hand for the small camera that dropped into her palm. She couldn't wait to show Dorothy and Hirde the pictures that she had organized to have taken of all six men, Gundam pilots and heroes all, when she got home. She smirked as she tapped on the little recorder that she had been playing while Wufei was pouring out his tale, begging her for assistance. She had especially loved the bit about how Heero had gotten carried away with the kissing and wondered thoughtfully if she could persuade him to experiment a little bit further. She was pretty sure that the other girls would be more than interested in lending their assistance to extending Heero's experience with kisses...  
  
*****  
  
'Oh come on, it's only a little kiss.'  
  
'No.'  
  
'You said that a kiss didn't really mean anything.'  
  
'That's right. So no.'  
  
'You've kissed everyone else. You might as well kiss me too.'  
  
'No.'  
  
'Please? Pretty please with sugar and cream on top? Come on Heero! It's my turn now!'  
  
'No. Never. I'm not kissing anyone ever again.'  
  
'Just one little kiss. What harm can it do?'  
  
'No. No more kisses.'  
  
'That's not faaaaaaaaaair! It's my turn! Come on. Pleeeeeeeeeease!'  
  
*****  
  
tbc... ^_~  
  
  



	3. Interlude

~ Interlude ~  
  
Quatre smiled cheerfully as he poured himself a cup of tea from the delicate flower patterned tea set. On the opposite couch, Trowa sat in polite silence, his green eyes hooded by the long, heavy red bang.   
  
Duo hummed softly under his breath, his outrageously long and thick chest nut braid swaying gently behind him, as he very carefully cut the mud cake in front of him, into five, rather uneven sized slices. He passed the cake slices to Heero, indicating wordlessly that the thick slice with the only strawberry was for himself.   
  
Heero ignored the frantic handsignalling as he calmly accepted the plates of ice cream. The brown haired youth with a serious looking expression, focused all of his considerable attention, his tongue sticking out a little at the corner of his mouth, towards measuring each scoop of the vanilla ice cream being added to the side of the chocolate cakes. Making certain that each scoop was exactly the same, no more or less.   
  
Slightly apart from the cozy group was Wufei, who was sprawled untidily over the thick rug, cushions scattered below and around him, his entire attention on the book in his hands, giggling every now and then as he turned the pages.   
  
'Yo, Wufei, come over here and get your cake. The ice cream is starting to melt.'   
  
Duo glared coldly at the lazing figure as he accepted his cup of tea from Quatre, even as he passed back his plate to Heero for an additional scoop of ice cream.   
  
'Ungrateful toad.' Duo muttered sourly as Heero wordlessly picked up the left over plate and took at over to the oblivious Wufei. 'You shouldn't have done that, he'll get spoiled, you'll see.'   
  
Wufei tore his attention away from the rivetting pages just long enough to rearrange his loose limbs so that he could tuck the plate under his chin as his eyes remained glued to the black print.  
  
As he poised his fork over the cake, he stopped and blinked, his attention diverted by the thin dark slice sitting on the delicate porcelein plate, with the white lump of cold sweetness slowly melting at its side.   
  
'Why is my piece of cake so much smaller than everyone else's?'   
  
Wufei looked up accusingly, his black eyes fixing coldly on the significantly larger triangular shape sitting on Duo's lap, noticing that it was getting smaller with each large bite.   
  
'You let him divide the cake again.' He shot an angry look at Quatre, who beamed happily and mumbled back an incoherent apology through a mouthful of cake and ice cream. Then at Trowa who sipped his hot sweet tea sanguinely and shrugged carelessly. Wufei glowered at Duo, who was too busy trying to tease Heero into letting him have yet another scoop of ice cream to notice him, and sighed crossly.   
  
'I told you not to let him at the cake, look at the size of my slice, you rats.'  
  
'You better eat fast before all the ice cream melts.' Came a quiet reminder as Trowa finished his last morsel of cake with obvious enjoyment.   
  
Wufei scowled blackly but turned back to his plate with resignation, he knew from bitter experience that it was better not to keep arguing, especially when a certain someone had almost finished his own slice and was likely to start demanding that he share what little he got.   
  
Wufei frowned at Duo, who noticing the attention, grinned and made a big show of savouring the large strawberry, and narrowed his eyes. He thought that it was way past time that someone taught that irresponsible, greedy baka a lesson about sharing.   
  
  
  
  



	4. The wedding ?!

Part 3.  
  
'When I fall in love, it will be forever...'  
  
Heero winced in pain as he heard Duo's voice turning into a shrill squeak at the end of the phrase. He gave an accusing glare at Quatre, and the blond blushed and started to twiddle his fingers nervously.   
  
'You. Again.'   
  
Heero sighed deeply, shaking his head in annoyed resignation. Next to him sat a very pale looking Wufei with dark circles under his eyes, looking ready to snap. Trowa was sitting next to them, his usually tranquil expression disturbed by a deep scowl, his arms crossed tightly over his chest.  
  
Quatre thought briefly about filling his eyes with tears, trying to make himself look more pitiful, a useful little trick that he always used when in trouble. Then he looked again at the three sets of cold and angry eyes staring icily from across the table and changed his mind.   
  
'Oh come on.' He tried at last, thinking that maybe he could try bluffing his way out. 'All I did was to see an old movie with him. How could I know that...'  
  
'That all those mushy musicals would addle that teeny, tiny brain, again, and convince him that the way to true love was through a song? That all he had to do was...' Heero gritted his teeth as the memories of the past few weeks flooded his mind, 'to find the right song?' He almost snarled the last word, his nerves fraying further as yet another rendition of 'Unforgettable' started to wobble its way through the house.   
  
'Forget about your love problems for once. What about the rest of us?' Wufei spat out crossly, 'what I want to know is why he keeps on insisting singing to Heero in the middle of the night? Loudly. From outside the house. I haven't been able to a decent night's sleep for over a week.'   
  
Quatre scowled at the belligerent tone in Wufei's voice. While he did feel a bit sorry for Wufei's haggard appearance, he thought that Wufei should have been more sensible like the rest of them, and just sleep with earplugs. Still, Quatre had a feeling that Wufei wouldn't be too responsive to an appeal to his logic and reason. He decided that it was past time that he changed the situation a little and to change the direction of this little interview.   
  
'Basically, all our problems are Heero's fault.' Quatre started smoothly, gaining confidence as Wufei's mouth fell open in shock and Heero's eyes widened in shocked indignation.   
  
'Lets review what's been happening, shall we? One,' he started to count off on his left hand as he spoke, 'we all know that Duo's been driving us crazy.' Reluctantly, the other three nodded, in Heero's case, reluctantly and with hesitation.   
  
'Two, the reason for Duo's behaviour is simple. Unrequited love. He's driving us nuts, while he tries to convince Heero that they belong together. Right?' Quatre looked around smugly, swallowing a grin as Heero bit his lips in vexation and the other two turned to each other and nodded in complete agreement. 'So, we come to three. The solution.' He grinned wickedly, confident that he held their undivided attention.   
  
'Omae o korosu.'   
  
Heero muttered involuntarily as the sudden silence was breached by a wavering attempt at 'love me tender', punctuated at nerve shattering intervals by the howls of their neighbour's dog. Wufei put out a shaking hand and sipped his tea, only to grimace painfully when he realized that it had gone cold. Trowa closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to withstand the agonising pangs that shot through him as Duo's voice wandered frantically, in search of the right notes.   
  
Quatre felt his eyes watering from sheer sympathy when the cacophony finally drew to an end and the unseen singer started to cough and hack from his efforts.   
  
'No.' He shook his head regretfully, 'we can't kill Duo. Not even in self defence.'   
  
He sighed sadly and looked at Heero, who definitely began to look more and more nervous, as he looked him over steadily.   
  
'I'm afraid that our only solution is...' he paused dramatically, enjoying the way he once again held their attention. 'To sacrifice Heero.'   
  
Quatre ignored the sudden choke of outrage from Heero and turned to Wufei and Trowa, who began to nod as he continued to speak.   
  
'I think that once we let Duo marry Heero, he'll probably feel more secure and no longer drive us mad with these frantic attempt to capture Heero's interest. So what we'll do, and preferably before he starts singing again,' Quatre added thoughtfully, 'is to get Duo and tell him to set a wedding date. And we'll all live happily ever after.' He beamed happily as Trowa and Wufei nodded slowly, hypnotized by his voice.   
  
'No. Uh uh. No way. Nothing doing. I'm not getting married. I'm not even sure if I love Duo. I don't want to get married yet. Are you listening to me? Don't you dare tell him that I'll marry him. I'll run away. I warn you. No. Please. Oh come on you guys. This is not fair.'   
  
Heero looked from one set of determined eyes to another, his voice dying in his throat as he realized that there was no way out for him. He glowered sullenly as Quatre and Trowa jumped to their feet and started to run for the door, desperate to tell Duo the good news before he got started on the next song. He sniffed dismally as Wufei picked up his hand and started to pat it consolingly.   
  
'It's not that bad. I'm sure you'll get used to it. These arranged marriages can work out for the best you know.'  
  
Heero glared at Wufei from under his fringe and snatched his hand back.   
  
'You can't force me to marry him.'  
  
Wufei glared back at Heero, the dark circles under his eyes accentuated by the pallor of his cheeks.  
  
'Oh yes, you bloody well are.' He shouted hoarsely, shaking his finger under Heero's nose. 'I've had my hair coloured and permed, as well as my fingernails polished and decorated on, because of you. I haven't been able to sleep for days, listening that caterwauling he calls a love serenade, because of you. If marrying you will cure Duo from behaving like a lunatic, then marry you he will, if I have to personally drag you to the altar and hand you over.'   
  
Heero widened his eyes as Wufei drove his face closer to his, with each word. He leaned back, his heart hammering rapidly as on the last word, Wufei froze, his eyes fixed on Heero's, their noses almost touching, close enough to feel the soft warm breath from his mouth on his face. Wufei blinked, then sort of shuffled slowly backwards, feeling a warm flush stain his cheeks as he did so.   
  
'Anyway, so there.' Wufei concluded weakly, feeling somewhat warm inside as Heero continued to stare at him with those huge dark blue eyes. 'I'll just help Quatre and Trowa with Duo.' He muttered hastily as he fled from the room.   
  
Heero narrowed his eyes as he thought about the way Wufei had reacted. He remembered the way that Wufei had gotten flustered and nervous after their first kiss. Heero cracked his knuckles and grinned, 'a weakness', he thought smugly, and decided that whatever the other three thought, he wasn't going to make it easy for them to 'sacrifice' him.  
  
*****  
  
Duo looked at Quatre with a confused look on his face as he stood with his mouth gaping open, his hand frozen on the guitar that he had managed to find somewhere.   
  
'Marry?' He managed at last, feeling definitely out of kilter, 'me... and Heero?' He smiled unsteadily as the other two beamed and nodded, each taking a hand from him and pumping it energetically in congratulations.   
  
'Oh my.' He sat down suddenly, his legs feeling very wobbly all of a sudden. 'Heero's going to marry me.' He repeated blankly, 'I'm going to marry Heero.' He jumped up and grabbed hold of Quatre by the collar, shouting in his face, 'I'm marrying Heero. Me, Duo. Heero and me. Married.'   
  
Quatre reeled back from the overpowering minty breath as Duo screamed in his face. He felt a bit of a rat but continued to nod reassuringly. He grinned weakly at Trowa who shook his head and looked doubtful as Duo got more and more excited by the minute.   
  
'This was a good idea.' Quatre told himself silently as he saw the tears of happiness run down Duo's cheeks. 'Heero and Duo belong together. And hopefully, they'll move out. To live some place far, far away.' He prayed silently, as Duo clutched onto his neck and started to sob into his expensive watered silk shirt. 'Damn. I knew I should have changed out of this shirt. I'm never going to get the water stains out of this silk.' Quatre thought in irritation, as Duo dripped thick warm tears of gratitude all over his favourite pink shirt.   
  
Trowa watched his two friends uneasily, he couldn't help thinking that maybe he had made a terrible mistake in listening to Quatre, again. It was just that he could be so persuasive sometimes. He turned to Wufei who had arrived, looking a bit flushed, and shrugged in explanation when the other man pointed to the hugging couple on the lawn.   
  
'We told him.' Trowa offered simply.  
  
Wufei eyed the sobbing man in Quatre's arms with deep misgivings. Somehow he couldn't help feeling that they had all forgotten something in this equation. None of the men on the lawn noticed the blazing cobalt eyes staring out from the window of the house behind them.   
  
*****  
  
'I'm not wearing a dress.'  
  
'You can't expect me to wear the dress. I'm the guy remember?'  
  
'What the hell do you mean by that? I'm a guy too, remember?'  
  
'Yeah but,' Duo smiled coyly, 'I told you that I wanted to be the alpha male in our relationship.'  
  
'Not if I have to wear a skirt you don't.' Heero answered shortly in a voice that brooked no dissent.   
  
'But you'll look so pretty in a dress.' Duo wheedled sweetly, totally missing the frantic signals from Quatre who was standing behind Heero. 'And it's a wedding. You have to wear a dress or you're not going to match with the wedding cake, see Heero? A guy and another guy wearing a dress.'  
  
Heero looked carefully at the little mannequins decorating the top of the huge, gleaming white cake and set his teeth. 'That's a guy and a woman. I'm a man. I'm not wearing a dress. If you want to have a dress so badly, you're going to have to wear it, but count me out.'  
  
Quatre hastily trotted into the room as he saw the tell tale tremble in Duo's lips and took the little dolls from his hands. 'I can get the dolls changed for two men in tuxes. No problem.' He smiled smoothly as Heero looked daggers at him.   
  
Duo sulked but finally agreed to drop the subject though he continued to look wistfully at the open catalogue of bridle gowns on the table. He then held up the stack of invitation cards and started to count them out, giving Heero 5 cards, while he took a few dozen, and passing the remaining 450 cards to Quatre. 'I think we should divide our labour, so Heero, you invite Relena, Millard, Sally, Noin and Dorothy, while I take care of our old friends.'  
  
'And me?' Quatre asked acidly as he started at the tall stack of cards in his hands.   
  
'Well, it's your reception so I'll let you choose the rest of our guests.' Duo said airily as he started to hum happily under his breath, while he carefully chose five different coloured pens from the stand and stood up with his pile. 'Don't forget that you promised me a big bash, okay? Just make sure to invite all the really wealthy, important and good looking people that you know.'  
  
Quatre stared crossly at Duo as he disappeared out of the room and then turned to Heero imploringly when the other also stood up, having already finished writing the names on the envelopes. 'Aren't you going to help me?' He asked pleadingly as Heero started to walk away.  
  
Heero raised his eyebrow pointedly as he held up one of the ivory and gold trimmed cards and replied in a wintery voice. 'Help you with what? This was all your idea remember? You promised Duo a wedding that he'll never forget. Well, you better get started on the guest list. I'd imagine that it would take some time to write out 450 cards.'   
  
Quatre stared forlornly after the disappearing figure and looked down at the stacked pile of cards in dismay. He pulled out his addressbook and leafed through the pages, wondering if he would be allowed to count couples seperately.   
  
'This is about the dress. I know it is. You're so petty, you and Duo deserve each other. You should thank me for forcing you to marry him, instead of being so ungrateful.'   
  
'Excuse me?'  
  
Quatre looked up and blushed deeply when he saw Wufei standing in front of him with a tall vase filled with flowers.   
  
'Nothing.' He answered quickly, and dropped his eyes back on the cards, feeling the back of his ears turn red with embarrassment.   
  
He continued to write in silence, as Wufei placed the vase, harrumphed as he took in the tall overly elaborate white cake with the ribbon, pearl drops and sugar roses all over, and left.   
  
After the first two hours, Quatre's hand started to ache from the unaccustomed writing, as he wrote card after card, not even bothering to think about who he was inviting anymore, only wishing to make the cards disappear from his sight. He looked at the still remaining small stack of cards with desperation as he scratched in the last name in his address book. He wondered how he was supposed to get the rest, though at least his sisters had been good for over 80 cards, counting all their current partners and major friends.   
  
Quatre thought about asking Wufei for help but discarded that notion when he remembered the huge fight they had, after Duo asked him to be the best man, and then told him to arrange for Wufei to be the maid of honour. At least Trowa had been a little more co operative, Quatre mused sullenly, as he remembered the look of exasperation on the tall auburn haired pilot's face as he finally broke down and agreed to give the bride away. As it was, if Relena hadn't volunteered, smothering her giggles behind a handkerchief when he had red-facedly explained his predicament, there would be no maid of honour or bridesmaids. Quatre hadn't quite dared to tell Heero about that little detail yet.   
  
Quatre drummed his fingers as he stared at the small stack of empty cards in front of him. He thought about throwing them away but Duo was quite capable of demanding a count if he took it into his head, Quatre knew, so he sighed and dragged them closer and started to count them, hoping that he might think of a way to get rid of them somehow. Fifty. Quatre blinked as he sat up straight and looked at the list of names he had made of the invites. He knew where he could get hold of fifty men. A huge grin blossomed on his face as he pulled the phone to him and started to dial. It was past time that Rashid came home after all...  
  
*****  
  
Trowa smiled a little as he stood at the top of the stairs and heard the loud arguments coming from below. He rested his head in cupped hands as he leant against the banister and watched the two men screaming at each other with bemused admiration. A tall blond man was waving his arms wildly as he exchanged heated words with a tall brunette who was waving a photograph in his face.   
  
'What's going on?'  
  
Trowa turned his head slightly, then grinned and moved aside a little to allow Wufei to see the furore below. The Chinese pilot wrinkled his brow as he heard some of the words being thrown back and forth then heaved a deep sigh as he asked, 'I'm afraid to ask what happened.'  
  
Trowa shrugged, his attention still riveted on the two, as they started throw more than just words at each other. He pursed his lips as he saw a crystal vase pass narrowly near Duo's head, and shatter loudly on the pristine wall behind him.   
  
'Duo found out about Heero and Quatre.'  
  
Wufei jumped and turned to the absorbed redhead in wide-eyed shock.   
  
'What? What do you mean by Heero and Quatre?'  
  
Trowa didn't answer at first, since he was too busy leaning over to see if the returning missile by Duo, a lovely porcelain figurine of a young girl had managed to hit Quatre. Trowa involuntarily burst into clapping as the blond adroitly avoided being hit, while simultaneously managing to save the figurine from hitting the ground. Then he winced in painful sympathy as the figurine dropped to the ground, shattering into small pieces as Duo grabbed the rug from under Quatre's feet and pulled it, dragging the blond man to the ground.   
  
'They are really getting into it.'  
  
Both Trowa and Wufei turned around in amazement and saw Heero, who had just arrived, looking down at the debacle with keen interest.   
  
'You two timer.' Wufei reddened with outrage as Heero just stood with one hand resting lightly on the banister, his eyes glued on the two combatants below. 'How dare you! It's your fault they are fighting.'  
  
Heero snorted scornfully as he turned his attention on the indignant man glaring at him.   
  
'Don't over react Wufei. I suppose that Trowa told you about the photograph.' Heero's tone was airy and quite casual, betraying no tension or embarrassment.   
  
Wufei went purple at the frank admission and took a step forward. 'Photograph. What's this about a photograph?'  
  
Heero looked at the excited young man in front of him and bared his teeth in a smile.   
  
'It's a photograph of me and Quatre. Back when we were still guests of Relena. She thought that we looked cute together and asked us to pose in that fluffy outfit she made us wear when we stayed in Sanc Kingdom. I just doctored the photo a little to make it look as if we were standing... even closer than we were. There's nothing all that incriminating. Duo just went ballistic. Though,' his tone turned sly, 'that might have something to do with the little letter that he found with the photo.'  
  
Wufei blinked, feeling very bewildered. 'Letter? What letter? Heero, what do you think you're doing?' He asked in desperation as both Trowa and Heero turned their attention to the fray below, momentarily distracted by the loud yell, then the resulting thump and crash. Both men winced in concert as they saw the state of the blond man after he survived being battered with the wedding cake. Unfortunately, the cake did not survive the experience.   
  
'I'm just trying to teach someone a lesson. Well, two some ones actually.' Heero replied absently, his attention too caught up by the destructive havoc being wreaked below to notice the sudden tiredness in Wufei's voice.   
  
'Use me as a sacrifice will he?' Heero muttered viciously as he gleefully noticed that the battle was still raging strong, though both men were now out of sight, as they ran out of ammunition and moved their field of action into the adjoining rooms. 'Do you think that we'll be safe if we went below to see how they're doing?' He asked Trowa, leaning more than half his body over the banister in an attempt to try to keep the two in his line of sight.  
  
Trowa considered the situation carefully then regretfully shook his head. 'I wouldn't.' He advised sagely, 'they have a tendency to drag anyone else in the vicinity into their little fights. Going near them is too dangerous.'  
  
'You are right. Damn. What a shame.' Heero muttered sorrowfully. Then he looked around in confusion as he realized that Wufei had disappeared from their side. 'Where did he go?' He thought in brief puzzlement, before dismissing all thought of Wufei, as a very, very angry looking blond started to climb the staircase.   
  
'Oh. Um... I'll see you later Trowa.' Heero turned swiftly and fled down the corridor, thinking that he could probably manage a getaway from the verandah. Trowa thought about following him but decided to stand his ground, ignoring the little wobble in his legs. He tried to look as sympathetic as possible, but it turned out to be a wasted effort.  
  
'Where is he?' Quatre ground out forcefully, as he tried to scrape some more of the cake and icing from his face. 'Where... is... Heero? When I get my hands on him, I'm going to...'  
  
'You are not to go anywhere near my Heero, you blond floozy!' Came a loud scream from below and Trowa gasped involuntarily as he beheld a dripping apparition, with wildly flowing brown hair, and a bunch of wet flowers sitting on top of his head. 'I don't need you to hold a wedding for me! I know that this is all a plot to try to steal my Heero! Father Maxwell told me that blonds couldn't be trusted! Don't you dare ignore me Quatre! I won't be ignored! You hear me! Do you! Do you!'   
Trowa smiled weakly as the two men closed in on him.....  
  
  
  
..... tbc.... 


	5. a dialogue

A dialogue...  
  
  
'So... the wedding's off.'  
  
'I thought that it sounded strange when I got my invitation. Someone had written 'don't come you boring old metal bucket' on my card? I couldn't understand what was going on. I mean, Noin got the same card as me, but hers just said 'your presence is requested' et cetera, the usual stuff. Did you get anything strange on your card?'  
  
'Well, now that you mention it. When I opened my card, I found 'save me' written all over the inside but I thought it was just a joke or something you know? Anyway, it doesn't matter now. You don't need to come to Earth after all. Heero's not going to marry Duo.'  
  
'I always thought that they weren't right for each other. Duo's so frivolous really. Not his type at all, I thought.'  
  
'He's not that bad. I just wish that I could understand why he's suing Quatre though.'  
  
'What? Duo's suing Quatre? For what?'  
  
'Something about fraudulent promises. I'm not too sure. All I know is that Quatre's counter suing. For damages to personal property, as well as for libel. It's turned into a huge media fiasco though. It's kind of embarrassing. I thought I'd better warn you that the media might be coming after you as well.'  
  
'Me... but why? I have nothing to do with anything.'  
  
'You were mentioned, by name, as an involved party in both their lawsuits apparently. By the way, have you seen Heero anywhere?'  
  
'Heero? Why? He doesn't work for me any more remember? Noin fired him, after she found out about my nose ring. She said that it was all his fault that I got arrested.'  
  
'Well, he's missing. Duo's filed a missing person's report on him. He's telling everyone that Heero's been abducted.'  
  
'You got to be kidding. Who would want to... and why? Wait... I don't know if I want to know.'  
  
'I know what you mean big brother. Basically, he's accusing Wufei. Since he went missing at the same time, Duo just put two and two together and came up with... y'know, the usual. Actually, he started by accusing Trowa. But then he changed his mind when Trowa came out of hiding and counterfiled for libel and slander against Duo, so... '  
  
'So, Heero's not with Trowa. And I suppose that Wufei is still missing as well?'  
  
'Yeah. But that doesn't mean that they're together. I mean, I don't think I blame those two for running away. And Trowa probably would have stayed away if he weren't so angry over being called a kidnapper on CNN. Poor Quatre.'  
  
'Why poor Quatre?'  
  
'Well, Trowa filed a lawsuit against him too. He said that this was all Quatre's doing. That particular one is a group action by Trowa and the Magnacs. Something about placing their lives and limbs in unnecessary jeopardy? I didn't really understand what that one was about.'  
  
'It sounds like you've had a busy week there sis. I hope that you haven't been affected too badly by any of this. I mean, it couldn't have been that easy for you when you got asked to be Heero's maid of honour and all that. I just want you to know that I was proud of the way you handled yourself through all this.'  
  
'It's not that big a deal. But unfortunately, I've been cited as a material witness, on both sides. So I'm afraid that I'm going to be stuck until all this is sorted through. Do you think that you could call me if you see Heero?'  
  
'Sure. Not a problem. Would you like me to come down and give you some moral support?'  
  
'Actually, I think you're going to have to come down anyway. As a witness. Just pray that you don't get cited in the suit against Quatre as an accomplice, that's what happened to Trowa when he filed that suit against Duo.'  
  
'My god... I better go and see my lawyer. Look I'll call you again, Relena. Take care of yourself.'  
  
'You too Millard. Bye.'  
  
  
Kat: :lol, so, did anyone guess who the speakers were?   



	6. Part 4

Part 4.   
  
Rashid looked at the angry young man in front of him and resisted the urge to pick him up and shake him till his teeth rattled.   
  
'You're going to have to settle. Quatre-sama.' Rashid tried to keep his voice calm and low as the blond man stubbornly shook his head again. 'All this publicity has been disastrous for your holdings, and Winner Inc.'s public image has been damaged badly, maybe even irretrievably. You have a responsibility, not just to yourself but to those who work for you. You have to settle this now. You just can't afford to be dragged into the courts.'  
  
'I'll go to hell before I lose to that rattle brained twit. If he wants to take me to court, then so be it. Duo's going to regret the day that he decided to take me on.'  
  
Rashid shook his head sadly as he looked into the enraged green eyes of the young man he used to work for. He had hoped that when he and the Magnacs had joined Trowa in filing an action suit against Quatre that it might finally shake him and show him that he couldn't just use people without having to deal with the fallout but unfortunately all they had achieved in the end had been to make Quatre, angrier than ever. And now, no one could reason with him, not even Ms Peacecraft, though she had tried her best to make peace between two old friends.   
  
He couldn't really blame Quatre for being so angry though, Duo had really lost control, and in his bid to raise enough funds to wage his legal battle against Quatre, he had sold his story to every rag print in the business. The last straw had been the publishing of 'the letter' with 'the photograph' in the Sunday Telegraph.   
  
According to Quatre-sama, he hadn't written the letter, which publicly declared his unrequited love for Heero Yuy and after he read the drivel in its contents, Rashid had to admit that he was probably telling the truth. Though he had had his misgivings when he first heard of the letter.   
After all, there had been that little scene in Tehran when he had walked in on Quatre-sama and Heero-san one evening. Still, he thought, that even if the letter had been genuine, Duo-san had totally broken all bounds of gentlemanly behaviour by having it published. Especially with the accompanying interview where he alleged that Quatre-sama had been at the bottom of all his romantic mishaps with Heero-san, in order to deliberately break the two up.   
  
Rashid looked pleadingly at the tall man leaning against the doorway, his brown eyes begging the man for help. After a long moment, Trowa finally stirred himself and came to Quatre's side.   
  
'Quatre, I think you should agree to drop your lawsuit against Duo and give him the settlement. After all, I've already dropped my lawsuits against both you and Duo. It may be too late to keep all this just between us but we don't have to drag each other into the courtroom okay? What do you say Quatre? And we already have Duo's agreement that he going to drop charges against Wufei for kidnapping Heero. Lets just end this. Come on Quatre.'  
  
Quatre set his mouth stubbornly as he glared at the two men in front of him. He hated not being in control of the situation but for the life of him he couldn't think of a way to resolve it without following their instructions. He swallowed angrily and barely managed to nod frostily at last.   
  
He leaned into his chair, brooding darkly and ignoring Rashid, who broke into a relived shout and ran to Trowa's side, happily pumping his hand and patting his shoulder. Quatre chewed his lower lip as he tasted the awful bitterness of defeat and his head churned with plans of how he could make Duo pay for placing him in this humiliating position.   
  
His eyes narrowed coldly as he reminded himself that there was one person who could drive Duo crazy, absolutely guaranteed. All he had to do was to find him. Then, he'd make him pay. They'd all pay. Quatre swore to himself that he'd get even with the rotter who framed him with that pathetic photograph and letter, no matter how long it took, or whatever it cost. He smiled sweetly and added an extravagant flourish to his signature on the settlement papers that Rashid placed in front of him.  
  
Trowa looked at the angelic looking blond and silently started to worry. He wondered where Heero was...   
  
*****  
  
The yellow convertible drove sedately down the freeway for another few miles then with a loud squeal from its tires, it screeched out of its lane, horrifying the other drivers, before slamming to a halt on the emergency gravelled lane.   
  
'I'm going to kill that bastard!'  
  
The loud scream echoed through the small valley then before the rattled drivers had a chance to collect their wits, the yellow car roared back into life and screeched back into lane, accelerating to over a hundred miles within a few minutes. The frightened motorists timidly continued down the freeway, all of the cars slowing down to a seventy miles of one accord, allowing the maniac in the yellow car to disappear in front of them. They were feeling too strained to pay much attention to a big advertisement board by the side of the road.  
  
On the board was a picture of two men, one a dark haired handsome young man with an intense expression, the other, with black short ponytail pulled tightly behind him and large exotic looking black eyes.   
  
The caption above the second man said, 'have you see this man? He's a kidnapper. Please help rescue my beloved.'  
  
*****  
  
'It's been a while.'  
  
Heero shrugged, keeping his eyes warily on the fuming brunette glaring at him from behind Trowa.   
  
'I heard that you got a lot of money out of Quatre. I'm impressed.'  
  
Duo choked down his fury, trying to keep control over his expression and swallowed down a bitter retort. His counsellor had advised him that his emotional outbursts were probably part of the reason for the problems in his and Heero's relationship. He suspected though, that as in most relationships, the blond had a lot to do with it as well. He searched through all the things that he most wanted to say to Heero and tried to find the least exceptional thing to start with.   
  
'Why is he here?' He finally managed.   
  
Wufei twitched. His black eyes blazed with rage as he shook a ripped poster in Duo's face.   
  
'What... is the meaning of... this?' He snarled as he pointed an accusatory finger at the picture of himself, and the damning caption above.   
  
'Ah that.'   
  
Duo's voice was non-committal as his eyes switched watchfully from Heero to Wufei and back again.  
  
'Don't you think that you should explain first why you ran away with Wufei, Heero? On the day of our wedding?'  
  
Heero felt his heart thumping nervously as the large violet eyes bored into him. He knew he shouldn't have trusted Quatre when he told him that Duo had been receiving therapy and was no longer obsessed with him.   
  
'I didn't run away with Wufei.' Heero started feebly, thinking rapidly over all possible excuses and trying to select the one least likely to trigger Duo's uncertain temper.   
  
'Then why are you with him now?' Duo snapped out, cutting him off in mid sentence, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.   
  
'And why shouldn't he be with me?' Wufei interjected, in Trowa's opinion, very unwisely, putting himself between Duo and Heero. 'You don't own him. You aren't even married to him. And I'm still waiting for an explanation of this... this.. fraudulent piece of rubbish!' He ended acidly, waving the incriminating poster in Duo's face.   
  
'Ah.'  
  
Heero turned as he felt a gentle hand tap on his shoulder and gazed into Trowa's face.   
  
'Why don't you come and have a cup of coffee with me, while those two finish... talking.' Trowa suggested with a half smile on his face.   
  
Heero nodded numbly as the voices started to soar again, each competing to drown out the other.   
  
'He hasn't changed.'  
  
Trowa nodded sadly.   
  
'Not at all.'  
  
'And Quatre?' Heero's voice sharpened. 'Where is he nowadays?'  
  
Trowa closed the door firmly, muting the screechs coming from the other room as he steered his friend towards the kitchen.   
  
'Well... he's still not on speaking terms with Duo... and,' he added hesitantly as he directed Heero to the kitchen table, 'I think he's still a little bit upset over that letter.'  
  
Heero blinked in confusion.   
  
'What letter... oh.... that letter.'  
  
'Yes. That. Letter.'  
  
Heero started as he recognised the icy tones that interrupted his conversation. He turned around and saw a very angry looking Quatre walking towards him.   
  
  
....tbc...  
  
  
  
Kat: Well, I guess I'll give people a chance to catch up on reading before I get to the next part now. ^_^  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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